Identical twins in dogs - Page 2

I HAD TWO PUPS BORN IN THE SAME SAC BACK IN THE EIGHTIES. THEY BOTH WERE HEALTHY IN EVERY WAY. IN FACT ONE OF THEM WAS A SHOW QUALITY MALE THAT HAD A RATHER SHORT SHOW CAREER. SO IT CAN HAPPEN AND DOES. 

I HAD TWO PUPS BORN IN THE SAME SAC BACK IN THE EIGHTIES. THEY BOTH WERE HEALTHY IN EVERY WAY. IN FACT ONE OF THEM WAS A SHOW QUALITY MALE THAT HAD A RATHER SHORT SHOW CAREER. SO IT CAN HAPPEN AND DOES. 

Nope, the DNA will be different.

I wouldn't call similar pups "twins" unless they were born in the same sac. I had one set w/Capri once- identical bicolor girls in the same sac; one was stillborn and one was perfect. Now, I'm not sure which one was the "twin" because she won't allow me to mark them in any way until they're weaned. 

As my pair get older, it may become apparent that they simply resembe an ancestor very closely.  I still would want to do DNA, but it is becoming more evident that there is not a laboratory that does canine DNA that could confirm identical twins.

This is a very interesting topic for me as I wondered the same thing about 2 pups from my last litter.  Actually, I didn't think much about it until they were about 1 year old.  I started researching it, but all I found was that there could be twins born in the same sac, and they were usually the same sex.  There were 7 pups, 5 black & tans and 2 bi-colors.  The bi-colors are male and female and I think they are twins.  The male was the 2nd pup born, and the female was the 6th pup born.  I kept the female and the male went to his family at 8 weeks.  Aside from going to the same puppy class, they were raised in 2 totally different environments for the first year of their life.  The owner of the male needed me to take him for a few weeks when they were about 1 year old.  I was amazed at them together, they did everything the same and always together.  They look identical, from the marks on their feet to their facial expressions.  My family had to look at their collars to tell them apart.  I even took them into the vet and they weighed exactly the same, I thought the scale was broken!  Anybody who has ever seen them together refers to them as the twins.  And no matter how much time they spend apart, if they see each other they are bestest pals.  If either one of them sees their other littermates, they try to fight.  It's like they have a weird special bond.  Aside from the few weeks spent together at 1 year, they didn't spend any extra amounts of time together that would explain their behaviors.

On the bed with bones


Outside 1 year old

I'm getting confused. 

Are you guys saying you think there are twins other than identical pups of the same sex who are born in the same sac?

I'd just call those "littermates" ;-)

I think that's what the OP meant, but it is what I meant.  There are a lot of similarities in the litter between the littermates, but with these 2 pups I think it goes above and beyond.

Identicals must be gestated and born from the same sac and will always be same sex.

Although it has been shown in other species that clones (identicals) do not always have identical markings.  Something about genes and coat colour expression.  Don't understand this very well.

But these two pups are like peas in a pod.  Always can be found nursing, sleeping together, even apart from the others.  They change markings, the same way on the same day, etc. 

But this may just be a remarkable coincidence.